Jeremy Pang’s School of Wok: Delicious Asian Food in Minutes

London cooking school owner Pang (Chinese Unchopped) puts the wok to work in this flavor-fueled globe-trotting tour through Asian cooking techniques. Pang’s brilliant invention is the “wok clock,” a mise en place with foods arranged clockwise in the order they’ll be used—starting with base ingredients (garlic, ginger, onions) around twelve, “harder vegetables” around three, tossing in proteins around six, then finishing off with sauce around nine. In informative prose that’s light and brisk, he serves up recipes that spotlight the versatility of the wok beyond standard stir-frying. A whole sea bass gets steamed with lemongrass in a perky lime broth, and an assortment of dishes are fried, like Singaporean chicken wings sizzled in sesame oil. Numbered steps are clear and anticipate questions, and a primer on types of woks (carbon steel, nonstick, cast iron) enlightens. In chapters divided by country, signature national dishes—such as Singapore’s satay, and chicken katsu from Japan—shine. A chapter on Thai dishes, which opens with a mouth-watering trio of curry pastes, includes crab curry over thin rice noodles and a balanced take on hot and sour soup, while Vietnamese options include a steamed pork meatloaf smothered in scrambled eggs, inspired by the same treat offered at “broken rice food stalls” around the country. Those ready to take the plunge into wok life will find Pang a faultless guide. (June)